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When is enough enough?

The loony, gun obsessed, right-wing idiots of our beautifully screwed up country love to say that the gun problem we have is not their fault. The problem we have is that criminals buy stolen firearms and they are the ones who are causing all of the problems. Real gun-loving Americans are super-duper responsible and do everything right! They are properly trained, they practice gun safety, they are responsible and protecting their rights as ‘Muricans dammit! Yeppers….the problem lies solely at the feet of criminals. Except it doesn’t and Fred B. Maphis’ arrest in Wisconsin for telling his six-year-old son to lie about how he shot his little sister is more proof that their ‘scary criminal’ theory is total bullshit.

48-year-old Maphis was watching television in his Alma, Wisconsin home on August 30th when he heard a gunshot followed by screams. He ran into the other room to find his 6-year-old son trying to clean up blood and his 4-year-old daughter with a gunshot wound to the side of her head. He wrapped her wound in towels and rushed her to the local hospital. What a terrifying ordeal for this responsible gun owning father!

Maphis’ son told the Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies that he dropped the shotgun and it went off. Maphis explained that his firearms are usually unloaded and locked up but he forgot to put it away after shooting at birds the previous day. Instead, his shotgun was loaded and sitting on top of a dog kennel. The boy later admitted to police that he did not drop the gun at all, that’s what his father told him to say. He explained to officers that his sister asked him to point the gun at her and he did but got to close to her head. He actually meant to just shoot over her shoulder.

So, not only Mr. Responsible ‘forget’ to put his loaded shotgun away, and leave it in a place that is easily accessible to his two small children but he also told his child to lie. He definitely deserves an award for his stupidity. That’s not even the best part of the story!

The boy’s mother told the sheriff’s department the boy has been shooting firearms since he’s been 3 years old and he has a .22-caliber rifle he’s allowed to shoot with parental supervision, according to the complaint.

Yup the 6-year-old child has been shooting guns since he was three and owns a rifle!!! Are they for real? Why in the world does a three-year old need to shoot a gun? Was the mother saying that as if it somehow gets them off the hook because they tried to teach their child to respect guns?

Responsible gun owners would never, ever forget to lock up their firearms with children in the house. Conservatives will say that it is an isolated incident but it most certainly is not, here’s a short list of incidents this year:

January: A two-year old South Carolina boy was shot in the head by his older brother by accident.

February: Tennessee man accidentally shot in the chest by his brother.

March: A Michigan police officer’s 4-year-old son shot and killed himself at home.

April: A 4-year-old kills a women with a deputy’s loaded gun at a barbecue.

June: A 13-year-old Nevada girl is killed after another girl accidentally fires a weapon.

July: A 16-year-old Texas boy died after a gun he was handling discharged.

August: Wife accidentally shoots and kills her husband in their Arizona home.

September: NYPD officer accidentally shoots two women in Times Square.

That is just a tiny sample of a much larger list. So when gun maniacs say that is just a criminal problem, they are clearly mistaken. Accidental shootings happen ALL THE TIME and many times people die because of them. This little girl was very, very lucky; if her brother had been maybe an inch closer to her skull she’d probably be dead.

Maphis, the responsible gun loving father has been charged with two misdemeanors: leaving a loaded firearm near a child and obstructing an officer. Why he told his son to lie is beyond me, did he think he wouldn’t be in trouble? He left a loaded shotgun on a dog kennel! He just proved to not only be everything wrong with gun lovers USA but also a horrible parent.

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."~ Jack Layton

The looney, gun-hating, left-wing idiots in this beautifully screwed up country will not be happy until the only guns left in the country are in the hands of criminals.

Yes, this is a tragedy. I am sure that the father wishes it was HIM rather than his child. He made mistakes, as I'm sure that OP never ever in her life has.... and he is paying for them, paying a steeper price than many of us pay. But, that hardly makes him a typical representative of a gun owner. Y'all are always the first to say, quit painting with such a broad brush. I say, start taking your own advice.

My kids have been raised around guns.I know im a horrible parent to some of you but guess what? I do not care what you believe me to be.I live in a very rural area in the south where there is a lot of wildlife.I will not allow a cougar or mountain lion to eat my animals or kids.You do not like it? Meh..lump it...as my mother used to say.

Actually no he wasn't a typical gun owner. Typical gun owners make sure all weapons are unloaded and out of kids reach at all times. Typical owners teach their kids what guns look like, and what they will do. We also teach our kids that of their friends play with their parents guns they are to immediately find an adult.
Typical in your world is irresponsible and idiotic.
The same could be said for those who make assumptions of others they know nothing about.

Quoting Margroc24:

Well, as the op I will certaily admit to some mistakes in my life. I have never made a mistake that resulted in the lives of 2 children being destroyed.

He was a typical gun owner though, that is the point of the article. Too bad your righteous indignation blinded you to that fact.

Accidents also happen with steak knives, electrical outlets, and bath tubs. Shall we outlaw those as well? Crazy dinner-eatin', electricity-usin', butt-washin' maniacs have no need of these dangerous items.

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